Arizona Diamondbacks honor prospect Brandon Pfaadt for dominant season in minor leagues

Right-handers Ryne Nelson and Drey Jameson have made good first impressions as major-league starters, and left-hander Tommy Henry has had spurts of success. But many believe the Diamondbacks’ best young arm has yet to arrive — well, officially, that is.

Right-hander Brandon Pfaadt was at Chase Field on Sunday, but not to pitch. He was there to be honored as the organization’s top minor league player. If he continues on his current trajectory, he should be back in a more official capacity sometime next season.

In a season split between Double-A Amarillo and Triple-A Reno, Pfaadt this year posted a 3.83 ERA, a number that is more impressive than it might appear considering the extreme hitter-friendly environments at both levels. Even better were Pfaadt’s strikeout totals: In 167 innings, he struck out 218 batters, the most in a minor-league season since 2001.

“Just staying aggressive regardless of what the ballpark conditions are, just pitching your game,” Pfaadt said when asked about his keys to the season. “At the end of the day, not basing it on results, just going out and attacking the zone and trusting your ability.”

Drafted in the fifth round in 2020 out of Bellarmine University in Kentucky, Pfaadt has quickly climbed through the Diamondbacks organization. He sits around 94 mph with his fastball — a pitch that is unique, evaluators say, because it has both carry and cutting action — and also throws a slider, change-up and curveball.

During his time in the organization, Pfaadt has been known as a strike-throwing machine, but he said his ability to vacate the zone helps explain his rise in strikeout totals this season. His 218 strikeouts were the most since New York Yankees left-hander Brandon Claussen struck out 220 hitters between High-A and Double-A in 2001.

“There for a little bit I was throwing too many strikes,” he said. “It seems like a good thing, but at higher levels it’s not a good thing, especially with two strikes. We tried to keep honing in on (bullpen sessions) at leaving the zone with two strikes. I think that helped get more strikeouts.”

Pfaadt said he also made an adjustment this season in terms of how he deploys specific pitches, trying to throw a wider variety of pitches to hitters on both sides of the plate. Rather than limiting himself to sliders to righties and change-ups to lefties, he tried to throw both pitches to all hitters.

Despite his success, Pfaadt did not try to downplay the difficulty of pitching in such hitter-friendly places, calling it “super hard” for a pitcher. Nelson (5.43 ERA in Reno) and especially Jameson (6.95 ERA in Reno) struggled in the minors before enjoying early success in the majors. Pfaadt said a key for him has been not to pay too much attention to the results.

“In Amarillo, you can give up four home runs and it’s still a good game,” he said. “Just learning that last year at the end, because that’s kind of what happened, and then coming back this year and knowing the lessons I learned the year prior, and bringing it all together, that’s kind of what benefitted me the most.”

Because he was drafted just two years ago, Pfaadt does not yet need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft his winter. Were it a protection year, Pfaadt almost certainly would have made his big-league debut already.

Still, to make it this far this quickly, particularly for a pitcher who wasn’t drafted out of a major college program, is unusual. As it stands, he figured to get a chance to open eyes in spring training next year and could push for a major league opportunity.

“I feel like this is a good organization for me,” Pfaadt said. “Like everyone else is, I’m just taking the opportunities that I’m given and taking it one step at a time.”

Pfaadt is scheduled to start for Reno on Friday in the Pacific Coast League championship game.

Short hop

The Arizona chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of American presented its annual awards at Chase Field on Sunday. Most valuable player went to first baseman Christian Walker and right-hander Zac Gallen was the most valuable pitcher. Outfielder Jake McCarthy was the rookie of the year, and catcher Carson Kelly was given the Good Guy Award, presented to the player who most fosters a positive relationship with the media.

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks prospect Brandon Pfaadt honored for dominant season